EU-Startups

Italian startup Bending Spoons has filed for an IPO on the Nasdaq, following a period of notable growth and marking a significant milestone for one of Europe’s most closely watched technology companies 🇮🇹 ✈️ 🇺🇸

Investors backing the business include Baillie Gifford, Cox Enterprises, Durable Capital Partners LP, Fidelity, Endeavor Catalyst and actor Ryan Reynolds. Reuters reported that the listing could value Bending Spoons at around €17 billion, although the company has not confirmed a target valuation.

“We see a vast opportunity ahead. We’ve identified more than 1,000 digital businesses (both private and public) that could be attractive acquisition targets in the future,” Bending Spoons CEO Luca Ferrari wrote in a letter attached to the IPO prospectus.

https://www.eu-startups.com/2026/06/milan-based-bending-spoons-files-for-nasdaq-ipo-is-europe-losing-another-tech-contender/

AI is changing how students prepare for assessments, but useful study support goes beyond storing documents. Studocu uses NLP and AI to help students turn long readings into clearer notes 🎓 📖

The platform explains difficult terms in context, create mock exams, and transform lecture recordings into searchable study material. A practical way to spend less time sorting through content and more time understanding it.

Read more here: https://www.eu-startups.com/2026/06/how-studocu-uses-nlp-and-ai-to-solve-learning-challenges-at-scale-sponsored/

UK-based NewOrbit Space, a company building satellites for very low earth orbit (VLEO), has closed an oversubscribed €16 million Series A round to fund the launch of the world’s first commercial satellite to fly at 200-300 km. 🇬🇧 🛰️

The round was led by Voyager Ventures, with leading angel investors including David Kirk (former Chief Scientist at NVIDIA), Lawrence Leuschner (co-founder and former CEO of TIER Mobility), and the family office Custos participating in the round. The round also received continued backing from Atlantic.vc, Lifeline Ventures, LGF and Illusian.

Anatolii Papulov, CEO and co-founder of NewOrbit, said, “For sixty years, VLEO has been treated as too hostile an environment for commercial satellites — but it is in fact the most valuable empty real estate in space. Today, no one in the industry has a reliable, affordable and fast way to fly payloads in very-low Earth orbit. We built our NEO-1 satellite to do exactly that.”

https://www.eu-startups.com/2026/06/uk-based-neworbit-raises-e16-million-to-build-commercial-satellites-for-very-low-earth-orbit-vleo/

UK-based NewOrbit raises €16 million to build commercial satellites for very low Earth orbit (VLEO) | EU-Startups NewOrbit, a Reading-based SpaceTech company building satellites for very low earth orbit (VLEO), has closed an oversubscribed €16 million ($18.5 million)

Ghent-based Companion.energy has closed a €7.8 million Seed round to deepen the platform’s multi-asset, multi-market optimisation capabilities, and expand commercially across Europe, starting with Germany and Spain. 🇧🇪 ⚡ 🚀

The round was led by Realyze Ventures and Pi Labs, with participation from Asterion Ventures and existing investors.

Jonas Verstraeten, co-founder of Companion.energy, said, “We started Companion because we believed the energy transition would force every large industrial enterprise to manage energy actively, and that they would not be able to do that with spreadsheets and quarterly check-ins. The work of the next decade is to give those teams software that can keep up. This round lets us bring that software to many more enterprises, and help them turn their energy from a competitiveness risk into a competitive advantage.”

Ghent’s Companion.energy raises €7.8 million to help large enterprises manage energy in real time | EU-Startups Companion.energy, a Ghent-based startup helping large industrial and commercial enterprises manage energy in real time, has closed a €7.8 million Seed

Berlin-based GALVANY has closed a €10 million Seed financing round to further expand its end-to-end platform for the installation, operation, and optimisation of heat pumps in Germany. 🇩🇪 🌡️ 🏠

The round was led by Dutch EnergyTech investor SET Ventures, with Berlin-based ClimateTech fund AENU as co-lead.

Raik Belka, Founder and CEO of GALVANY, said, “We are building the infrastructure that will finally make the heat transition work in the existing-building stock. In Germany, heat pumps do not fail because of the technology, but because of the gap between subsidy bureaucracy, installation capacity, and economic viability for the end customer."

Profitable German heat pump platform GALVANY closes €10 million Seed round after sevenfold revenue growth | EU-Startups GALVANY Energy (GALVANY), a Berlin-based heat pump platform, has closed a €10 million Seed financing round to further expand its end-to-end platform for

Creator Fund, a Kensington-based pre-Seed VC that finds and backs Europe’s scientific founders before they have a pitch deck, has closed its first European fund at €48.8 million. 🇬🇧 🎓🔬

The firm also announced that KfW Capital has joined the final close as the fund’s largest investor. Investment Fund of Denmark (EIFO) is the Fund’s second-largest investor. Equation Capital, Basecamp (Phoenix Court), JIMCO, and Allocator One have also backed the fund. In total, 71 limited partners from 21 countries have committed to the fund.

Jamie Macfarlane, founder and CEO of Creator Fund, said, “The world’s biggest problems are being solved in European university labs. The scientists working on them are extraordinary but for too long, they’ve been overlooked by venture capital, pushed towards academia rather than building companies. That’s the gap we exist to fill. This fund means we can back more of them, across Europe, than ever before – and make sure the next generation of world-changing companies is built by the people who have invented the science.”

UK-based Creator Fund closes €48.6 million fund to back Europe’s scientific founders before pitch deck stage | EU-Startups Creator Fund, a Kensington-based pre-Seed VC that finds and backs Europe's scientific founders before they have a pitch deck, has closed its first

This week’s funding round-up spans quantum computing, LegalTech, BioTech, clean energy, or FinTech, among others! From €500k pre-seed rounds to a €301 million Series C, here are the European startups investors backed this week. 💸

👇 Click below to explore the full round-up.

Weekly funding round-up! All of the European startup funding rounds we tracked this week (June 01 – June 05) | EU-Startups This article is visible for CLUB members only. If you are already a member but don’t see the content of this article, please login here. If you’re not a

UK-based Joyvié Health Ltd has closed its pre-Seed funding round, raising a total of €897k for its continence underwear – designed to reduce stool-to-skin contact, maintain skin integrity, and reduce caregiver burden 🇬🇧 🫂

The funding is made up of an Innovate UK grant, as well investments from HERMESA Angels, SyndicateRoom, Lavender Ventures, and individual angel investors.

“Products designed for care should never cause harm. That’s not a vision statement. It’s the reason this company exists,” says Zoe Robson, Founder & CEO of Joyvié Health.

Founded after personal loss, Joyvié Health raises €897k to rethink continence underwear | EU-Startups UK-based Joyvié Health has closed its pre-Seed funding round, raising a total of €897k ($1.04 million) for its continence underwear - designed from first

Sensie, a Ghent-based AgTech startup, has raised €500k in pre-Seed funding to accelerate plant intelligence for professional greenhouse growers. 🇧🇪 🌱📊

The round was led by Division Q, with participation from NewSchool.vc and Percival Participations. This announcement follows shortly after its initial greenhouse deployments, public launch, and nomination as a Top 3 finalist for the GreenTech Innovation Awards 2026. The winner will be announced next week at GreenTech Amsterdam.

Olivier Begerem, co-founder and CEO of Sensie, mentioned on LinkedIn, “This funding is about more than capital. It is about bringing the right people around the table as we move from our first installations toward a system growers can rely on every single day. It gives us the support to keep building, testing, and improving alongside growers, researchers, and technology partners.”

https://www.eu-startups.com/2026/06/ghent-based-sensie-raises-e500k-to-bring-real-time-plant-intelligence-to-greenhouse-growers/

Ghent-based Sensie raises €500k to bring real-time plant intelligence to greenhouse growers | EU-Startups Sensie, a Ghent-based AgTech startup, has raised €500k in a pre-Seed funding round to accelerate plant intelligence for professional greenhouse growers.

Innovafeed, a Paris-based BioTech startup producing sustainable insect-based ingredients for animal and plant nutrition, has secured €51 million in funding, largely from its financial partners. 🇫🇷 🪰🌾

The company has received support from its historical shareholders, notably CREADEV - Grow your future, QIA, Temasek, FFC, ABC Impact, and ADM, as well as its banking partners.

Clément Ray, CEO and cofounder of Innovafeed, said, “Since day one, we have carried a dual ambition: to demonstrate that we can produce high-performing, competitive, and sustainable ingredients for nutrition without relying on the intensive exploitation of marine resources; and that it is possible to build an innovative industrial project in France."

Paris-based Innovafeed secures €51 million to scale sustainable insect-based ingredients for animal and plant nutrition | EU-Startups Innovafeed, a Paris-based BioTech startup producing functional and sustainable insect-based ingredients for animal nutrition, pet food and agriculture,